Indonesia
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What visa do you need for a holiday in Bali (Indonesia) and how to extend it?
Are you planning a trip to Bali? – Plan to buy a SIM card to have internet access – Book your activities in advance with Civitatis – Protect yourself with insurance that offers good coverage. For example, with Heymondo (5% discount by using this link) We can’t say it enough, how lucky we are to have a French passport! It allows us to arrive in 112 countries without any prior visa procedures. Indonesia (and therefore Bali) is one of those countries; there’s no need to apply for a visa at the Indonesian embassy before you go, at least for stays of less than 60 days. Upon arriving in Indonesia, you’ll…
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How to withdraw money without fees in Indonesia?
Planning a trip to Indonesia? – Plan to buy a SIM card for internet access – Book your activities in advance with Civitatis – Protect yourself with insurance offering good coverage. For example, with Heymondo (5% discount by using this link) If you have a bank card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees for withdrawals outside the eurozone, you can hope to withdraw money without any fees at ATMs in Indonesia. I recommend the following free cards: You just need to find the right banks, as some charge fixed fees. Here’s a summary table of withdrawal fees and limits. This data was collected in Bali in June and July 2022. Note that…
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Gojek: Indonesia’s equivalent of Uber
You’ve probably heard of the Uber app, which lets you hail a driver, get food delivered, or have groceries brought to your door. Uber doesn’t operate in Southeast Asia; after years of fierce competition, Uber stepped aside for its rival Grab in exchange for a 27.5% stake. Grab is well established in many Southeast Asian countries. In Indonesia, however, it faces competition from a local company: Gojek. Gojek and Grab are virtually identical. You can book a car or scooter ride, have food or groceries delivered, or use a courier service… With Gojek, you can even order medication or pay your electricity, water, or gas bills. A handy feature is…
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Mixed First Impressions of Bali (Indonesia): Canggu, Ubud
I chose to write about Bali first, and I’ll catch up on the Vietnam travel journals later. Even though we’ve been traveling for 6 years, this is our first time in Bali. For us, Bali is synonymous with mass tourism and is the “clichéd” destination of the digital nomad. That’s why we’ve always carefully avoided this place. It’s only after 3 months in Vietnam, and while the number of open Asian countries is still limited, that we go there, with a rather negative preconception. In mid-June 2022, the PCR test is a bad memory; only a vaccination certificate (two doses) is required to arrive in Indonesia. From the plane, I…
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How to Rent a Scooter in Bali (Indonesia)?
Bali is definitely one of the easiest places in the world to rent a scooter: The scooter is THE main mode of transportation (roads are often narrow, not easy for a car) There’s no public transportation There are many tourists wanting to get around by scooter And so there are plenty of rental shops 🙂 A Quick Note on Safety As in most Southeast Asian countries, no license is required to rent a scooter. It even seems like you won’t get in much trouble with police checkpoints if you have your international driver’s permit (car) license. That doesn’t mean driving without the proper license is legal, and it can have…
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Batam (Indonesia): dream stay in Elysia Nongsa
Batam is an Indonesian island located only 1 hour by boat from Singapore. We didn’t know it was accessible from Singapore until we met Feng 6 months ago (before our world tour). We met Feng via Couchsurfing He had only been learning French for 3 months but he was already fluent in it. He is extremely smart, so he only needed 2 hours to understand my job (how to create a structure and manage Adwords campaigns). It was also Feng who encouraged me to learn Spanish to fully enjoy our trip to South America. Seeing how well he mastered French in 3 months, I told myself that it was quite…
